Believe
| season = 1 | episode = 9 | aired = November 19, 2009 | title_image = the believe tattoo | writer = Nicole Yorkin and Dawn Prestwich | director = Michael Nankin | guest_cast = Yûko Takeuchi as Keiko Arahida Genevieve Cortese as Tracy Stark Barry Shabaka Henley as Agent Vreede Gina Hecht as Dr. Fleming Hira Ambrosino as Yuuka Arahida Jessica Tuck as Mrs. Levy Bob Morrisey as Doctor Patti Yasutake as Ms. Kondo Rizwan Manji as Maneesh Sandhar | co-starring = Brad Raider as Agent Guy Toshi Toda as Mr. Nakahara Mio Takada as Old Man Eijiro Ozaki as Jiro Ai Yoshihara as Waitress Gina Hiraizumi as Flight Attendant Atsushi Hirata as Ryuu Hidetoshi Imura as Interviewer Nana Kamimura as Michiko Masayuki Yonezawa as Third Man Kiko Kiko as Old Lady Kenichi Iwabuchi as Waiter | uncredited = Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nhadra Udaya }}"Believe" was the ninth episode of season 1 of FlashForward (TV series). It first aired on Thursday, November 19, 2009 on ABC. Summary Bryce in Los Angeles Four weeks before the GBO, Bryce Varley is talking with an oncologist about his stage four renal cell carcinoma. Bryce asks about hormone therapy; the doctor counters with an offer of possible chemotherapy. Bryce asks how long he has. After leaving the doctor's office, Bryce walks through a parking garage seemingly oblivious to a car that drives around him. When backing out of his parking space, he backs into a classic Ford Thunderbird. As the driver of the Thunderbird yells, Bryce drives back and forth several times, smashing into the other car repeatedly. He then exits his SUV and walks out of the garage while the other drives yells that he is "dead." In surgery, Olivia Benford asks Bryce some questions about the patient's health to which he ought to know the answers but does not. Afterward, Bryce apologizes; Olivia responds that he needs to think seriously about his degree of commitment to his profession. In a session with Dr. Fleming, Bryce discusses his recognition that he is not a very good doctor and that he is not even sure he wanted to be a doctor. When Dr. Fleming asks if he has told his family about his cancer, he tells her that his family had been through enough with his father's lengthy death from lung cancer. He refuses to tell his professional colleagues because he does not want their pity. Dr. Fleming responds that they would a source of support. Bryce says that his condition is terminal, but Fleming assures him that none of us know the future. Bryce flashes back to the day of the GBO when he is just short of the revolver firing when his Flash starts. He orders tea and selects food by pointing to the menu. He looks up and sees first a shirt with a logo and then the unknown woman herself. He invites her to sit with him in a booth. After she sits, he asks permission then grasps her hand and examines her tattoo. They both smile happily. Sometime afterward, Bryce is at home listening to a Japanese language lesson, when he suddenly rushes to the bathroom and vomits. At work, Bryce shows his drawing of the woman from his flashback to a Japanese patient. She tells him the T-shirt the woman is wearing is from a restaurant near Tokyo called Sushi Arahida. Olivia congratulates him on some work. He thanks her, but she notices that something is wrong with him physically. He tries to brush her off, but she persists and finds that he has a main line inserted into his chest. He admits to being a chemotherapy patient and to having stage four renal cell carcinoma. Olivia realizes that he attempted suicide because of his cancer. He admits that he could not face a lingering death, but stresses that since his Flash, he has something for which to live. Soon after Olivia tells Bryce that she had called a classmate in Houston who is doing experimental work with a new drug and has gotten him admitted to the program. She tells him to take a couple of days and go to Houston. Bryce flies to Tokyo. Keiko in Tokyo Two weeks before the Global Blackout, Keiko Arahida is interviewed for a new position at Nakahara, a Japanese robotics firm. When asked about her role models, she cites Jane Goodall and Marie Curie, then adds Jimi Hendrix, explaining that she plays the guitar as a hobby; she also says she likes salsa dancing. Keiko gets the job, but is not happy. Two days after starting, she goes to her parents' house to find that her mother is holding a party in her honor, and has invited two eligible bachelors. Keiko expresses her dismay, but her mother does not sense the reason for her discomfort. Keiko awakes from her Flash lying on the bathroom floor in a puddle of water from the overflowing basin. Keiko soon finds herself sitting at a desk with no work to do. After receiving an email with Bob Dylan's Shelter from the Storm, she plays the video file while accompanying it on her air guitar. A manager comes to her desk and calls her to a conference room. When she arrives, she is stunned when asked to serve the tea. The manager who summoned her explains that since she is the only woman working in the department, it would be pointless to hire someone else to perform the menial task. Keiko goes to a tattoo parlor to get her tattoo. At home, she tells her mother that she intends to quit her job because it is "becoming a cemetery for my soul." Her mother reminds her that she and Keiko's father worked their whole lives in the restaurant for her. Keiko is not put off. She tells her mother that she is no longer a child and that she does not have to lead the life her parents want for her, to include marrying the man they select because she knows there is someone else for her. Mrs. Arahida responds that if Keiko does not want to respect the family she should move out of the family home. Bryce and Keiko Near Tokyo, Bryce finds his way to Sushi Arahida and is greeted by a host. He tells the host he is looking for a girl. After resolving the misunderstanding that he is not looking for any girl to have sex, Bryce shows one of his drawings of his unknown friend from his Flash. The host does not recognize the woman, but a cook does and says that her name is Keiko. Bryce thanks him profusely. Bryce goes to the Arahida residence, where the door is answered by Keiko's younger sister, who calls her mother. Bryce asks Mrs. Arahida if his drawing is of her daughter; he poses the same question to Keiko's sister. Mrs. Arahida responds that she does not know the woman in the drawing, because she suspects he may be the man Keiko had mentioned as "someone for her". Dejectedly, Bryce calls Nicole back in Los Angeles. Nicole tries to put a good spin on what has happened, but concludes by telling Bryce to come home. Bryce flies back to Los Angeles, not realizing that Keiko is travelling on the same airplane. The Ring Mrs. Levy of the National Security Agency brings enhanced images from the security camera footage of Suspect Zero. The images of his hand show his ring clearly enough to see an alpha symbol on the ring. Levy explains that the hardness of the ring makes such analysis possible, while the softness of Suspect Zero's skin makes retrieving an image of his face impossible. Demetri During the discussion about Suspect Zero's ring, Mrs. Levy says she is uncomfortable talking in the group because one of the agents has been red-flagged by the NSA; he received a telephone call whose origin had been professionally concealed. All of the agents realize that Levy is talking about Demetri. They realise that there is a recording of the call held by the NSA, and push Levy to get a copy of it. She agrees to make a call to her headquarters. The FBI receives a copy of the recording of the call and Agent Vreede analyzes it electronically. He is able to strip out everything but the background noise, which he explains is the "Symphony of Lights" in Hong Kong Harbor. Mark and Demetri try to get permission to go to Hong Kong, but Wedeck refuses. As the two leave Wedeck's office, Mark says they are going anyway and that Stan will get over it. Mark and the Text Message While Mark and Olivia Benford are in their master suite, Olivia's cell phone rings. She asks Mark to answer it for her. When he picks up the phone he sees the text message she received about his drinking during his Flash. When Mark asks Olivia why she did not mention the message to him, she replies that she never mentioned it because he told her about the drinking before she had a chance. Olivia goes on to finish dressing and Mark picks up and fingers his sobriety token. At the end of the next Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, Mark approaches Aaron Stark and mentions the text message. He reminds Aaron that he is one of two people he had told about the drinking during the Flash and asks if he sent it. Both men become angry and Aaron tells Mark that, if he does not trust Aaron as his sponsor, he should get a new one. Mark goes to work. He stops in Stan Wedeck's office to tell him that they have received the recording of Demetri Noh's anonymous cell call. He asks if Wedeck had sent Olivia a text. When Stan asks why Mark thinks he would have done that, Mark explains the content of the message, reminds Stan that he is one of two people he had told about the drinking during the Flash and reminds him that he was extremely angry when Mark had told him the truth. Wedeck becomes annoyed because Mark thinks he would be petty enough to do such a thing and tells Mark to get out of his office. Aaron and Alcohol Tracy Stark serves supper to her father Aaron. She comments that she forgot the cheese and goes back to the kitchen. When she returns she is carrying a bottle of wine and a glass. As she pours, Aaron stares. He tells Tracy that he can not have her drinking in front of him because of his alcoholism. Tracy becomes angry because it seems that Aaron is telling her she can not drink at all. Aaron repeats that it is not a question of what she can do, but of what he can do. He tries to take the edge off the issue by repeating that the food tastes good. Tracy angrily picks up her wine and leaves the room. The following day, Aaron tells Mark that Tracy is drinking herself to sleep every night. She has become an alcoholic, just like him. He says while he can no longer be Mark's sponsor, he still needs him as a friend. Trivia Production Notes * * * Bloopers and Continuity Errors * Director Keller of the CIA testified in a closed session of Senator Joyce Clemente's committee about his suspicion that China was responsible for the GBO. In this episode, Stan Wedeck comments about the Chinese being upset about the statement with no explanation about how the testimony became public knowledge. * The tattoo on Keliko wrist dose not say Believe, it say's signals. The Japanese word for Believe is 信じる. The first symbol of Believe means signals. * When Bryce read's the writing on Keliko's wrist he pronounces it wrong. * When Dr. Bryce goes to the pier to shoot himself, he only loads one .38 special round into his gun. However, when he raises it to shoot himself, we see that there are multiple rounds loaded. Literary Techniques * Irony: Bryce Varley and Keiko Arahida flew from Tokyo to Los Angeles on the same airplane and, in spite of having seen each having seen the other in their Flashes, never recognized each other during the flight. External links *Episode's article on IMDB